Weekly Product Hits: An Overachiever's Guide to Rest, Co-Creation Instead of Persuasion, Don't Scare Your Team
Product Hits: August 4, 2025Every week, I share three great product resources from a variety of perspectives. Let's dive in! An overachiever’s guide to rest by Elaine Chao Elaine Chao, Director of Product at Adobe, shares a deeply personal look at burnout through the lens of being an overachiever. She unpacks why high achievers resist rest (tying identity to output, carrying hyper-responsibility, and holding impossibly high personal standards) and offers a playbook for product managers to break that cycle. From convincing to collaborating by Francesca Cortesi Francesca Cortesi, Chief Product Officer at Hemnet, argues that the best product decisions emerge from collaboration, not persuasion. She urges PMs to replace polished pitches with early co-creation, using open questions and shared ownership to build stronger strategies and reduce the need for buy-in battles. Stop accidentally scaring your team by Wes Kao Wes Kao, co-founder of Maven, warns that bluntly naming fears can create unnecessary anxiety, even when the intent is reassurance. She advises PMs to keep negative statements vague and focus specifics on positive goals, helping teams stay calm, confident, and focused during uncertain times. Behind the ScenesHey there, it’s Clement! One pattern I’ve noticed across teams is that products are often designed for the “default” user: someone with fast internet, a personal device, and the time and attention to engage. But in many industries, that “default” doesn’t exist. For example, think about firefighters! They often face the following constraints:
If your product assumes stable connectivity, frequent interaction, or deep focus, it’s going to fall short in that environment. If we design for these high-intensity constraints instead, we arrive at a very different solution from what we might typically propose:
And interestingly enough, when we solve for extreme conditions, we often improve usability for everyone - even the people who we weren't originally targeting. I’d love to hear from you! What’s the toughest environment you’ve ever designed for? What assumptions did you have to let go of? With love, Let's do more together!
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Product Teacher
In-depth essays and thought-provoking reads for product managers.
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